A Friendship Betrayed
by Cerulean1
Summary: A first person snippit from the end of The Daredevil in the Mold.  Continues with a first person look at B&Bs changing relationship, and its effects. :D  Disclaimer:  I don't own bones, though I so wish I did.
1. Chapter 1

Spoilers for: The Daredevil in the Mold

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><p>I kept my back straight as I walked away. He wouldn't see me cry, I could hold onto that much of my dignity. He knew my feelings on marriage. He'd known them almost from the day I met him, and yet we came to this point. I'd hoped that we could avoid this conversation for a few years, I'd hoped that it was a discussion we could have as adults before he just laid it all on the line. It wasn't fair for him to do that to me, and then make it my fault. It wasn't. He knew.<p>

I kept it together in the cab, not a tear more than what gravity claimed without my help. Just something in my eye, can't help that now can I? I made it up the stairs, I hated that death trap of an elevator, and into the apartment before I fell apart. Through a haze of tears I realized that I hadn't really made much of a dent in this place, when I moved out no one would really notice. My clothes gone from the closet, my jacket from the rack, but nothing else. Just like everywhere I went, I kept my touch light, ready to move on in a seconds notice. I just hadn't wanted to move on. I hadn't wanted to leave this time.

I couldn't begin packing, not as tear-stained as I was, I'd ruin everything I owned. So I lay on his couch, smelling the soft scent of Seeley Booth, and I cried. I loved that smell, I loved it so much my chest would ache. I'd wanted to make it work, I offered, but Seeley was always an all or nothing sort of man. There was no middle ground with him. Except when it came to his partner, he'd loved her, she'd turned him down, and yet they were still friends. And I still don't completely believe that they'd never slept together. Whatever his admission that it was just mere weeks ago that she first admitted he meant anything to her, there was an intimacy there that even six years of working together does not create.

I stifled my sobs, and wiped at the wet spot on the sofa. It would be no good to not cry in front of him only to have him come home and find I'd spent the time I should have been leaving, crying on his furniture like some love sick teenager. Oh, but how I felt like a love sick teenager right then. Jealous and angry and ready to rip the world to shreds to go back and change things. I don't think I could have though. Maybe I could have stopped his question if I knew it was coming, but right now, with our current past, I couldn't see a scenario where I said yes. I'm just not the marrying type.

I made my way to the bedroom, the bed made with the military corners he'd never be able to let go, but his clothes scattered around the bed. I opened the closet and lost it again. I've never been one who cried over a man, not since I was seven and Bobby Westhouse gave me a Valentine during the class party and then took it away after school and tore it up because I hadn't made one special for him. Seeley was different though, he got under your skin and made your life flip upside down. I don't have many friends stateside, not that I can call at seven on a Friday night and expect them to listen to me cry. I have one. I hadn't wanted to call her, I didn't want her stuck in the middle of this, but she was my friend, and if I didn't call someone I'd never leave, and he'd come back to find me here, and that would not go over well.

She picked up on the second ring.

"Brennan." She sounded distracted, and I could hear a soft sizzling in the background. Cooking.

"Temp -sniff- Temperance, it's Hannah. Can, can we talk? Are you busy?" Dishes clanged, clothes rustled.

"Yeah. Is everything alright? Is Booth okay?" It's always Booth first, I should have known. Always Booth, because she loves him, and I should just hang up the phone and call my father. My father who doesn't know about Seeley, and would not be pleased that I've been living in sin with him these past three months.

"Yes. He's, I guess he's fine. He proposed to me, about half an hour ago, I guess." Talking kept my tears under control, which was why I called, so I could pack. The silence on the other end, though, was deafening.

"Congratulations. He- He's always wanted to get married." Oh, I know Temperance, I know, and that's why my one little cardboard box and four suitcases were on the bed slowly being filled with the little that I own.

"I turned him down, Temperance. I, I told him no. I've never seen him so upset, so cold. Seeley is never cold." and the anger...

"Oh, well marriage doesn't really define a relationship. In fact, humans by nature are-" I just didn't want to be rationalized at. I felt like I was being torn apart.

"He wants me to move out, I don't know what to do. He's so angry." Silence again. "You there?" A door slammed.

"I'm here. You can stay at my place tonight, until you find somewhere else. I'll try to be back soon, but if I'm not back, just tell the doorman. He'll be expecting you and will let you in. Just show him your ID."

Shock didn't even begin to describe what felt. I knew we were friends, but Booth is now back on the field and she's offering her guest room to me? This woman is more confusing than a press conference about health care reform.

"I don't want to impose. I just needed to talk, to vent. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have called you."

"I wouldn't offer if it was an imposition. Guest room is the second on the left just past the bathroom. There's leftover Thai in the refrigerator. I just, I have to find him. If he starts gambling..." She trailed off, and I heard her speaking to someone in the background. But I understood. If I'd broken his heart so completely that the last six years without a bet was broken, I don't think I could forgive myself. He hadn't even been to a meeting since I'd known him, he was effectively cured. But extreme emotional stress, and the look on his face, I knew what she meant.

"Thank you, Temperance. And I'm sorry. I love him, and I didn't want to hurt him."

"Of course not. I have to go." And she hung up. Maybe that was too much at the end. He did come first in the friendship scale for her. If she even had a scale.

She wasn't home when I got there, but true to her word the doorman let me in. There was the start of something sauteed in the sink, the tiny TV in her kitchen, her only TV, left on playing some 24 hour news program. I turned it off, dropped my bags in her guest room, and found the Thai. If he'd been gambling she probably wouldn't be back until late, after dragging him to a GA meeting. If he hadn't, I probably wouldn't see her until morning. An upsetting thought. I found a copy of her latest book on the shelf, settled into a chair and began to read.

– – – – –

I fell asleep in the chair, book on my chest, dreaming of Seeley and Agent Adams, and Kathy Reichs, and murder, and sex, and Temperance, and what all of that had to do with one another. It wasn't a pleasant dream.

The door slammed open and woke me up, and Temperance staggered in, not quite drunk, but past comfortably not-sober. I was surprised she came back.

"Hey, how is he?" I didn't want to hear what they'd done. I didn't, but I had to ask. I had to know.

"Angry. At you. Us. And when I had the cab drop him off at his place, so intoxicated that he almost didn't make it up the stairs."

"Was he...?" She shook her head, and in a methodical way that belied her current blood alcohol level put her shoes and coat in the closet and headed for the hallway.

"Not gambling. Just drinking. I'd avoid him for awhile." She closed the bedroom door behind her, and I went to the guest bedroom to try and sleep. The clock said one fifteen. They'd probably closed the bar, but he hadn't let her stay with him. I had a little hope as I crawled under the cold, unfamiliar sheets of her guest bed. She hadn't stayed with him.

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><p>Author's note on chapter: I never really liked the way Hannah dropped from existance after she and Booth split up. I'm all for Dr and Agent B hooking up, but Hannah was Brennan's friend, and I just don't see Brennan being the kind of person who drops a friend because said friend is no longer sleeping with her partner.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Spoilers for: The Killer in the Crosshairs

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><p>I'd been avoiding this side of town. The truth was, I was afraid of running into him. It's not that I thought things would go badly if I saw him, I was just hedging my bets so to speak. I would get to the point where we could forget that evening and go back to what we had. Temperance didn't think so, but she had her reasons for thinking that, and I had mine. It was a beautiful day, though, my roommate, a fluff piece writer for the local section of the Washington Post, was listening to some strange new age-y music that I thought sounded like a dying duck, and I could either stay and listen or head out and enjoy the sunshine. I thought that maybe if I hovered around the various parks that border the Mall I might get me a bit of juicy information to turn into a story for my editor.<p>

I'd left before dawn, wandering from park to park, and it was just after six when I saw her. She was jogging the track, oblivious to almost everything around her. She ran with a practiced ease, heading right toward me. I started to step out and stop her, maybe invite her to coffee or something and make this day worth something. He came around the corner a moment later, a leopard loping through the Washington jungle. She didn't see him, just continued on, he paced her obviously considering interupting her, but then thinking better of it. I cut across the green behind them , curious and jealous. Oh, he'd run with me, here in fact. That jungle stride of his tearing through the crowds. I'd always felt like he was holding back for me though, like he felt I wouldn't be able to keep up. Watching him now, watching him watch her, I felt like a nature show host watching a big cat about to feed.

He finally came up behind her, and then stopped. They smiled at each other, content in each other. It was sickening. I'd just worked up the nerve to go down to them when he shot off like a bolt of lightening. Laughing, she followed, and I cut through the park to keep them in sight.

I'm not a voyeur by nature. I like to be in the action, and to be known to be there. Sitting in a dark corner, hidden by shadows or shifting crowds was not my way of doing things, and I felt dirty for watching them. Like I was looking in on them having sex, and I knew how Seeley made love, and all that energy he used to beat her was no less focused in bed. I'm not a stalker, I hadn't intended to see them, I hadn't intended to be here at all, but now that I was I couldn't pull myself away. I felt sick.

They came to a stop at the coffee cart, and then touched each other with a familiarity that belied what Seeley had ever told me of their relationship. Deep down I knew the truth, but watching them, anyone watching them, would think they'd woken up that morning together, and gone for a run. There was a comfortableness between them that even I hadn't shared with Seeley. He bought them coffee, and they walked away, shoulders brushing occasionally, Temperance talking about something that she obviously found incredibly interesting, and he was obviously trying very hard to feign interest. I'd seen enough.

I would confront them, confront Seeley. And whatever his answers, I'd have him back. I was crossing over to them, out of sight but in ear shot, about to yell when he grabbed at his cell phone. Three clipped sentences later and the phone was back in his pocket. Her's had run while he was on the phone, but was away before he was off.

"Cam?" He asked her, and she nodded.

"I'll meet you there?" She asked, already heading across the path toward the main road.

He said nothing, just raised his coffee cup and headed in the opposite direction. That was it. I'd almost expected him to hug her, kiss her goodbye. Just a friendly wave and they were separated and on their way to poke at some dead guy. I ran through what I'd seen again, trying to pick anything out that told me definitively that I'd lost my chance with him. There had been nothing, just a friendly run at the local park, and a cup of coffee.

There was a spring in my step as I decided to forgo the parks for the rest of the day and see what was happening on Capital Hill.

He'd be mine, it hadn't even been two months, he'd be mine.

I had hope.

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><p>Author's note on chapter: This, and the next chapter, were originally written to be read backwards. the first thing I got from my beta reader this morning was "but BitB came after KitC", at which point i checked, and sure enough, I had originally watched them in the wrong order. Blame my DVR. So, I did a quick rewrite. The next part survived the edit better. don't flame me too much for this one, I just couldn't seem to make it work if it came before the blizzard.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Spoilers: The Daredevil in the Mold thru The Blackout in the Blizzard.

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><p>I watched the snow finally stop falling, and went back to daydreaming about what things would be like if I'd said yes. I would never have said yes, but day dreams and real life are so far removed from each other as to seem alien. I'm starting to sound like my roommate.<p>

When I told Seeley it wasn't over, it had sounded to my ears more a threat than a promise. Three weeks on, an early March freak blizzard ruining a perfectly good almost spring, and my plans to win the oldest Booth boy back had come to naught. I'd had lunch with Temperance more than a few times since Seeley and I broke each others' mutual hearts, and she was adamant that I shouldn't go near him. My first thoughts had been brought about in a jealous haze. She had spent Valentines with him, mere days after I'd found a fluff article writer for the Washington Post who had need of a renter. That the next day she'd laughingly told me about their range-reenactment, while helping me settle in to my new digs, had made me smile, but Valentines day was Valentines day; Tommy guns or no Tommy guns.

She had met him for lunch that morning, the morning of the blizzard, she'd told me about it the night before when I called to find out about lunch. Lunch was on, day after next, but she was meeting Seeley and Lance at the diner first thing. Classifying 300 year old bones, call you later. It wasn't fair.

He'd been mad at her as well, she'd told me so. So why was he taking her to breakfast? Was he making her breakfast the rest of the week?

I knew the answer. I knew their friendship was the one constant in his life, other than his son, and they'd been having breakfast together since before Parker had started school. Oh, I still had my doubts nothing had happened in the past, but I was near enough convinced nothing was currently going on. My mind had been a traitor though, more so since I'd finished all of Temperance's books. There was a reason I didn't read fiction.

I checked the clock, half past eleven. If I was going to make lunch I had to leave. A part of me wanted to skip out on her, stay home and watch day time television. I had a press conference to go to at five though, and if I didn't leave the house then I probably wouldn't have left it at all. Then I would have lost my job. The thought held me momentarily, while I waited for a taxi. If I lost my job, I would watch more day time television.

Not wanting to find myself still on the sofa in five years, fifty pounds overweight and a promising career lost, I climbed into the cab and let it take me across town. She was waiting on the street corner.

"Hannah!" She called, actually looking happy to see me. I felt awful, having thought of abandoninig her in the aftermath of this blizzard.

"Temperance, I'm glad you could make it. This snow is crazy." We went inside, it was a burger joint I'd found a few weeks before. They made a great garden burger, and their fry's were to die for.

"The weather has been very unpredictable recently. Booth says its proof that climate change is a hoax."

"You should tell him it's just that he has a bad weatherman."

It took her a second, like it always did, but she finally laughed, and then explained the joke back to me, getting it all wrong in the process. Seeley, I always thought, found it endearing; I hoped he choked on it. No I didn't. I hoped she did, in a distant not very friendly way. She'd stodd by me, but I couldn't help seeing the truth rising before me. He spent too much time with her for my liking, but they were friends, and partners. She was my friend, and I wondered if she'd felt this same burning ache when I'd been with Seeley as I felt now. She hid it well if she had. She hid the desire to gloat that I would feel in her place well, too. I wonder if she did feel like gloating, I wonder ifshe felt like she'd won. I wondered why she still called me up to have lunch, why she always took my phone calls, even at three in the morning when I couldn't sleep and needed someone to talk to. I wondered how she could still be my friend, and if I could be so accomidating in her shoes.

All I did was smile at her, though, and attempt to change the subject.

"I've never really liked the snow. Its part of the reason I accepted the assignment in Afghanistan last year. It's balmy."

"I've found a new appreciation for it. That said, it does hamper daily life when it shows up this unexpectedly. The pipes froze in the apartment below mine."

"Have you thought of moving?" I liked her place, the few days I'd spent there had been very educational.

"No. It's usually not so bad. And Booth taught me to fix my own plumbing." Seeley again. She didn't normally bring him up all the time when we had lunch. Out of respect for me, or simply because I was adept at turning the conversation I wasn't sure. It was probably the latter, I am a reporter.

I twisted the conversation around again, deftly bringing up a different topic without appearing to. And again she brought it around to Seeley. I tried not to get angry, she was my friend, she was trying to make this work between us even though her best friend and partner hated my guts. I didn't want to think about him, though, not after my lengthy thoughts that morning. I shouldn't have come, that was the jist of it, and now I was stuck. She wasn't bad company. It wasn't that. She was just a constant reminder of what I'd passed up. And she seemed oblivious to it.

"You've been a bit preoccupied with Seeley today. Is everything okay between you two? Is he still pissed at me?" She froze, like a deer in headlights, for a split second, less than a heartbeat. Almost so short a time as to be completely unseen. But I am a reporter.

"I-no. We had a run in with a man yesterday, he had Hemorrhagic Fever. Booth's taking a very effective anti-viral, the man landed on him. I suppose I've just been worried he won't remember to take it."

"Hemorrhagic fever?" I went cold all over. I broke out in a sweat, my hands clammy. I hadn't expected- no wonder she kept talking about him. She must have been sick with worry about him, I was sick with worry about him. Last week it had been Broadsky, back again to tormet him, and now he was dealing with a chance of bleeding from his nose and ears. And we're talking about plumbing and the weather. "Is he going to be okay?"

"If he takes the medication. He says he's likely to choke on them, however."

I couldn't help but smile, that sounded like Seeley.

"I'm glad he's going to be okay. Do you think...is there any hope of him speaking with me?"

She hesitated again, longer this time. She stared at the remains of her lunch, and shook her head.

"He's really not, not in any frame of mind to, Hannah. I don't read people well. I don't understand people, living people, but even I can tell he's not ready for that. He gets..." she stopped, obviously trying to find the word to explain it. She could name every bone in a roast chicken, but finding a word to explain what Seeley Booth was feeling and she was stumped. "He gets defensive."

I nodded. It's no more than I expected. He still wasn't ready. It was understandable.

I'd be there when he was.

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><p>Authors notes on chapter: Like I said, this one made the transition to chapter three from chapter two better than the other survived the opposite. Neither really floats my boat. I'm currently working on a mid-Finder episode chapter, and then I have to decide how exactly to handle hole in the heart. I thought Hannah walking into Brennan's apartment might work, but i'm having trouble being that mean to her :D We'll see! Until next time!<p>

Note on Authors note: It seems I've confused some people. I know that they went to Booth's in Hole in the Heart. I am also not entirely convinced they did anything but sleep that night, just because it is so ooc. However, I also believe that having taken the step to spit in the faces of the FBIs HR department, it is highly likely they'd stay at Brennan's every once and awhile...she has the pool :) So, do not be afraid readers! I won't touch canon, I promise.


	4. Chapter 4

Spoilers: The Finder; season three

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><p>"He was very attractive, for a Floridian" She put her drink down, frowning as it sweat; leaving a ring on the bars lacquered surface. She picked it back up, wiped the counter, then set the drink down on a napkin. I'd stolen the cardboard coaster to add to my tower.<p>

"And meeting him in Florida makes a difference?" I suppose when it comes to men with magical finding powers it does.

"No." She paused. "The last man I met in Florida bought a boat and went to the Caribbean." So, in other words, yes, it does make a difference, Temperance.

"Well, then it's a good thing he didn't try to take you up on that offer."

She laughed, that hiccup-y snort laugh that just sets me right off, so I joined her. "You are correct. Not that Booth had any right to offer it in the first place." She finished the last of the whiskey and Coke, and asked for a glass of water. Very smart this Dr. Temperance. I followed her example, but asked for a double shot of Jack straight up instead of water.

I snorted. I don't snort, but I snorted anyway. "Too true!" the waiter put down her water, and two double shots. I loved it that he could read my mind like that. He was scrumptious too. I slipped the second shot over to her. "To not dating Florad- Flori- Fly- To not dating people from Florida!" She accepted my toast, but chased it with the water.

"I should be going," she giggled. I didn't know Temperance could giggle, "if I ever plan on getting home at all." I let my smile slip into what was supposed to be a very sad frown. I don't think the effect worked, however.

"It's still early." I pointed to my coaster tower, only on it's second story. It did seem a little wider than normal though.

"It's -" she paused, attempted to check her watch, went somewhat hazy eyed and pulled out her cell phone, "-half past twelve. You are right, we have passed late, and gone into early again. All the more reason to leave."

Sometimes I hated her for her logic, but what could you do when you were friends with someone like Temperance. Tab settled we staggered out into the street, and I felt we were walking rather well considering that neither of us could stop laughing. And that's when he rounded the corner.

He appeared to have been looking for her. He lived not far from here, we were maybe a dozen blocks from Temperance's and probably a dozen from his place in the opposite direction. I hadn't thought of that when she suggested the place. There was that soft panic look on his face that he got when he thought someone was in trouble. It didn't fade when he saw her.

"Booooth." That's all she said, dragging his name out across her lips like a caress. If I'd been sober I'd have topped her, weaseling my way into his graces like I'd been wanting to do for the last nine weeks. I wasn't sober, was so far from it that I laughed at the look on his face.

"Bones, what the hell. I called, I went past your place. I thought- I don't know what the hell I thought. Why didn't you answer your phone?"

She took her phone back out of her pocket, and from where I stood beside her I saw the little icon for almost a dozen missed calls. She shrugged at him, and tried to turn me toward her place, away from him. That was probably when he first saw me. Even through the alcohol I could see his face go blank. He raised an eyebrow his mouth forming a tight line. Not really being myself, it looked a little scary.

"Hannah." It was such a similar look form the last time I stood beside him it was like the last nine weeks had never happened. We were standing by the river again, and I was holding back tears. "I should have known." He reached out, but didn't touch her. "Come on Bones, let me take you home."

She stood up straighter, squaring her shoulders. "I can find my own way home just fine Booth. Is there a case?" She almost sounded like herself. It was eerie.

"No case, I just heard from Angela and-" he stopped, staring at me. I smiled at him.

"Seeley, let me take Temperance home. I'll meet you back here in fifteen?" I batted my lashes, I took a step toward him. If I hadn't smelt so strongly of booze he might not of taken that step back.

"Hannah." His eyes were a fire raging, no longer the cold fury I'd seen before. I didn't know what I'd done. I didn't know how to fix it. I tried stepping closer again, he took another step back, then stepped around me to Temperance. He waved down a cab, rolling his eyes "Come on, both of you inside." He herded us like cattle, then slid in beside Temperance, who had the misfortune of being stuck in the middle. She gave her address before he could say anything.

We could have walked it in less time that it took the cab to drop us off. He hadn't spoken a word on the ride over, hadn't looked at either of us. He got out of the cab, taking Temperance's hand to help her stay upright as she stumbled slightly. I don't think it was really needed, she'd been doing fine before. I stayed, hoping he'd walk her to the door and come back. Luck, it seemed, was not on my side recently. With a look that would have killed lesser women he ushered me out of the car, paid the driver and stood over us the entire way to her front door. I felt a keen ray of hope when he had to ask her for her keys to get inside. Of course, the doorman waved at him like an old friend, but it was the principle of the matter.

Her apartment hadn't changed in the weeks I'd been gone. With the same methodical care I remembered from my first night here, Temperance put her coat and shoes in the closet, set her keys and phone on the table, and then turned to Booth.

"Thank you Booth. I admit, I am very heavily intoxicated and your care is appreciated. I will see you Monday. Hannah, the guest room is all yours again if you want it, but right now I'm going to bed." She grinned drunkenly, giggled again, and then sauntered to her bedroom. I had no intentions of sleeping here tonight.

"Seeley," I started, trying to caress his first name half as well as she'd done his last. I'm just not very good at sexy after almost four hours of drinking. His eyes cut me off.

"Hannah, go to bed. And don't even start." He spun, only catching the door at the last second to keep it from slamming. I felt more alone just then than I had the entire time since we broke up. A weight settled over me. Finding that I couldn't see the numbers on my phone well enough to call a cab, I made my way back to the guest room. I'd washed the sheets before I left, but they smelled freshly laundered again. Like Downy.

I was asleep before the question of why had even begun to form.

– – – – –

I woke to the smell of coffee. Not Folgers instant coffee, which is my roommates weapon of choice, but real brewed coffee. It smelled like hazelnuts too. I attempted to smooth the wrinkles from my clothes with my hands, but sleeping in them hadn't done them any good. Grabbing my shoes I headed for the kitchen.

She was on the phone, her back to me, but she looked pissed, and not hung over, from what one can tell from someones back. Which wasn't fair, because I could feel the headache creeping around the corners of my mind and only too many parties in college kept me from being completely incapacitated.

"No, Booth, you don't. Yes, she is, she's sleeping." Pause. "I don't see-" Pause. "Of course. Yes." He tone of voice changed. Whatever he had said had soothed the anger, returned her to that state of equilibrium she so rarely leaves. She was smiling when she turned around "I'll see you Monday. Tell Parker I said hi." She hung up and smiled at me, I returned it, but it came out more of a grimace.

She put a glass of water on the counter in front of me. "I think I'll just take the coffee thanks." Two Tylenol joined the water.

"You're dehydrated, the coffee will only make it worse until you replenish your fluids." No hang over and making perfect sense. That was why we were friends.

I drank the water, took the pills. "You and Booth okay? He seemed kinda pissed that I was there." I'd thought she was kidding about his not wanting to see me, but she'd been right. I'd broken something in him, I just didn't know what.

"Yeah. Angela called me, she'd wanted to ask me if I'd go shopping for the baby with her today, I didn't hear my phone. That was a little after eight. When I didn't call back by ten, she called Booth." She grinned at me, and refilled my water glass. While I drank that she poured me a cup of coffee. "He worries. It makes him Booth."

I nodded, I hoped it looked like I did it sagely, but the headache burst through mid nod and I think it came out more like I was having a seizure. I wanted him back, but I didn't want to get in the way of their friendship. You wouldn't think it, on first meeting her, but she is a great friend.

The best.

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><p>Authors note: I wrote a very short piece that happened just after Brennan recieves her medal back during the episode. I reread it about a dozen times, tried rewriting it and then scraped it. This I wrote in its place, and I like it more. It ties in better with Hannah's reaction in the next piece, which I'm just waiting to get back from beta to post. I've also recieved a couple of requests for post-eps for the episodes I'm skipping over. I've considered doing those, as interludes, just phone calls between Brennan and Hannah maybe, and just having Hannah's reaction on the case itself. If you want to see those, just drop me a line and I'll see about it. the idea is intriguing, but not something I'd normally write without encouragement :D<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

Spoilers: A hole in the heart.

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><p>The office buzzed, a hive of busy reporter bees working to get the next story out. There was a wall of silence around my desk, not purposefully, but I'd come to a realization in the last couple weeks and everyone around me could sense it. I had given up on Seeley Booth. I don't exactly know when I'd stopped loving him. Sometime after that mess of a night drinking. I'd woken up still loving him, sometime later I think I stopped. It might have been that look on his face when he left, like I was soiling something precious to him. Like I was Agent Seeley Booth's 'damn spot', and he wanted me out.<p>

I sat at my desk, the buzzing flittering around me but not coming close. The cursor blinked at me, but the screen was otherwise blank. I had a deadline, and I wasn't going to meet it at this rate. I had the story, notes stacked on either side of me, but it wouldn't coalesce the way it was supposed to.

I couldn't find any interest in corrupt politicians anymore.

Knowing I'd be out of a job otherwise, I started typing; it was mediocre at best, but it would work for the time being. I took this job in the Press Corps to be with Seeley, and now that we were no longer together, I kept thinking I should leave. I kept waiting to spot a decent opening overseas, but hadn't found the right one yet.

Paul Jackson from the Associated Press divided the reporters in the office like he were Moses and they were an inconvenient sea. I noticed him out of the corner of my eye, but didn't really pay that much attention. The AP came and went, snagging our stories when they liked them, leaving us to sell them where we would otherwise. I didn't think twice about him until he threw the hard copy for the morning edition of the Post on my desk – I glanced at the clock, 4 am. It should be out of copy and at the press, or at least online already.

"Oy, Burley, weren't you cuddly with that guy? We were going to run this on the early, but I thought he looked familiar."

I looked down at the paper, just 8 by 11 computer paper. Without reading it, I just stared, remembering when I was 20, a nothing reporter for a nothing paper. Remembering being used as the copy boy, remembered the sound of the dot matrix printers, of the old timers who still used typewriters. Remembered what it had been like to report of something that wouldn't be over censored by an overzealous editor, even if it was just on the opening of a new community pool. My eyes went back into focus, wishing I'd stayed in bed this morning rather than thinking I could get a jump on things if I came in before the sun.

I started reading, more skimming than anything. "GRAVEDIGGER ASSASSIN CAUGHT' read the headline. I wondered if this would be on the front page, or if they'd bury it. I read farther, read what I'd already guessed, that Seeley had caught Broadsky, brought him in the afternoon before – I amended, the afternoon day before last. The press hadn't gotten wind of it until the next day. Seeley was good at hiding from the press, damn him. I skimmed the rest of the article, almost missing the paragraph in the middle.

'Broadsky's last victim before his capture, a young Sussex man on a student visa, had been working with Agent Booth prior to his murder. Vincent Nigel-Murray, an intern with the Jeffersonian Institute in Washington D.C., was helping in the investigation at the Institute. Broadsky reportedly shot through the glass skylight of the Medico-Legal lab on the Jeffersonian's campus. Dr. Camille Saroyan, former Metro D.C. Coroner and current head of the FBI's consultant team at the Jeffersonian, said "Mr. Nigel-Murray was a dear friend and an asset to our team. He will be missed."'

I stopped reading, whatever was said after didn't matter. I didn't know all of Temperance's interns, but it wasn't hard to put the pieces together.

"Yeah, I knew him, why?" I had to get Paul to leave so I could call Temperance. This kid had been killed two days ago, but she hadn't called me. That could only mean one thing, that she wasn't dealing well.

"You want to comment on the story? Give up some personal insight for side story? This is big news, the Gravedigger was huge. She held that boyfriend of yours," he tilted his head toward the copy, "didn't she? Couple years back?"

Seeley had mentioned it in passing, but I wasn't about to say anything to Paul. He'd print the whole damn story.

"Dunno. Maybe. And no, I don't want to comment on it. Seeley and I are over. I wasn't with him." I stood up. "If you'll excuse me, I need to head out."

Twenty minutes later I was standing on the street outside her building, feeling foolish.

It was four thirty in the morning. Temperance is an early riser, but this was just ridiculous. I didn't know what I was thinking. I should have turned around and gone home. I should have waited a few hours and called her to see how she was doing. I should not have pulled out my key and headed for the elevator. I whistled in the elevator.

I'd like to blame it on the time of day. I'd like to say that had actually gone to bed the night before would have been different. I'd like to go back and change things. So many things.

I made a cursory knock, out of politeness. I hadn't called. It's four in the morning, I told myself. It's just rude to call someone at four am, forgetting all the times in the last three months that I had done just that. I had her key. She'd told me that if I ever needed to stop by, that she didn't mind. She'd said that she was glad we were still friends despite all that happened.

I hadn't expected someone to answer the door.

"Hannah?" She asked, opening the door. She had on a mans dress shirt and a pair of yoga pants.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm here." I suddenly felt very foolish. She very clearly had company if she was up. "I heard about -" I tried to remember the kids name from the article. Victor. Vance. "Vincent. I hadn't heard from you, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine," she said, though it was mostly a question. She opened the door wider, letting me in. I wish she hadn't. I wish she had told me to bug off until a more reasonable time of day. "I was going call you later. It's early."

"I know. I was at work, I don't know. I'll go." She'd already shut the door, and that's when I noticed the second set of keys and the second phone on the table by the door. What was I doing here? Just because my life had slipped apart after Seeley left was no reason for her to move on with her life.

I had pictured us, single, man hunting together. Not that I saw Temperance man-hunting, I saw myself man hunting and her somehow being there. I shouldn't have come.

"Don't. We- I need to say something. I don't really know how." She moved into the living room, and I followed. There was a suit jacket on the back of the sofa, it looked familiar in the way that black suit jackets all look the same. I sat beside her on the sofa.

"Are you okay, Temperance? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothings wrong. I just- My flight leaves at three, I'm going to England, for the funeral. Angela said that since she can't, I have to go in her place." She shrugged, and took a deep breath. I should have left then, I should have told her I needed to be somewhere. I should have lied through my teeth. "I won't be back for a few days and - and you need to know. Angela says-"

"Hey, Bones, what did you do with my shirt? I left it on the back of the-"

No one was finishing sentences this morning it seemed. But words would have killed me then.

Seeley walked out from the hallway, wearing nothing but his boxer shorts. He was drying his hair with a towel, his chest was dripping with water. My heart skipped a beat. And then another. And then it was sinking into my stomach and it was all I could do not to dry heave.

I stood up so quickly I almost fell. Temperance was up with me, she looked so hurt, so sad. I felt an anger rise in me I hadn't felt in years. So many years. How dare she. How dare she be sad. I knew. I'd always known. I started to speak, but my voice caught and I just ran, slamming the front door behind me.

I stood at the elevator, but I couldn't seem to remember how it worked. My head was swimming. I pictured them together, laughing at how stupid I was. Every night I'd ever worked late, and when I came home he'd just walked in the door. I'd known then. Everyone had been laughing at me.

She'd kept this friendship going as a joke. She'd been playing me. Coming home after we talked to laugh at how gullible I was. I couldn't believe I'd been such a fool. I'd trusted her. Seeley...

Seeley was a man. That was excuse enough for playing with my heart. Temperance had no excuse. How dare she.

I don't know how long I stood there staring at the elevator doors, willing them to open. The button dark. I saw her door open out of the corner of my eye, though, and Seeley walked out. He'd thrown on a pair of dress slacks, the ones that matched the jacket on the back of the sofa, and a white wife-beater. I turned and looked at him, and then turned back to the elevator. It would come eventually, if I could just remember how.

"Hannah, it's not what you think. You need to go back in there and talk to her. Bones- Bones doesn't want to hurt you."

I saw red.

"Hurt me, you bastard? And screwing your partner behind my back didn't hurt me? Had a good laugh at my expense? Did she tell you that she didn't mind if you got a little nookie on the side while you at war? Didn't expect me to show up, but thought it a fun joke? Did she get off on it?" I ground my teeth, and my jaw started to ache. Idiot.

"I never cheated on you Hannah. Now go back there and let her -" I couldn't take it. I don't know what came over me. Temporary insanity is my only excuse. I slapped him, hard, across the face.

"Screw you, Seeley." And I broke down. He turned, rubbing his jaw, and went back into the apartment. I started to sob, harder than I had the night I'd told him no. Dear God, why had I said no? I leaned against the wall, sliding down and hugging my knees. I hurt all over. I'd never known pain like this.

I don't know when she came out and sat with me. I don't know where he was. At some point though, my tears stopped and she was sitting on the floor beside me, knees up like mine. She'd changed, wearing her own clothes and not Seeley's. I didn't have the energy to yell at her.

"How long?" I whispered. She didn't answer, so I spoke louder, "How long have you been sleeping with Seeley?"

"If you mean how long has it been since we first had intercourse, one day" She looked at her watch. She'd put on her damn watch, "23 hours."

I lifted my head and looked at her, looked at my own watch, it was 4:47am. I'd only been here seventeen minutes. "To the minute?" The anger and sarcasm dripping from my tongue surprised me. I buried my head in my arms again.

"I-" she laughed softly, and I wanted to hit her, "I didn't really pay that much attention to the clock."

I glared at her from the corner of my eye, until I saw she was being perfectly serious. I sat up straighter. I sighed, finding my anger fading despite how hard I wanted to hold onto it.

"Two days? Seriously?" I hit my head against the wall, closing my eyes.

"Yes. I- It wasn't something I'd planned on doing."

I chuckled despite myself, "Oh, really? I've read your books Temperance." I wiped my tears away. "You planned on doing Seeley."

She looked shocked, hurt, and I felt a little better. And then I felt guilty for feeling better. I remembered the first few weeks I'd been with him, in the desert, under a sky half way across the world. I'd been so happy. And she wasn't. Not because of Seeley. Because of me. She was worried about me.

"I didn't want to hurt you, Hannah." She whispered "I was going to tell you."

I sighed, and leaned my head against her shoulder. "I know." We sat in silence for a minute. I was hurt, jealous, but my anger was fading. Hadn't I been thinking just an hour ago that I was over Seeley Booth. Hadn't I told myself I was over him. It hurt that it was Temperance, not because she wasn't right for him, she was perfect, but because I knew I'd never be able to stay mad at her for this. She should be happy. "I'm still mad at you, you know?"

"I know," she said. We sat in silence awhile longer.

"I'll probably be mad for awhile." she nodded, I could feel it in the movement of her shoulder. "But not always. We'll be okay, I just need time."

"I know. I am sorry. I was going to tell you." I laughed, standing up and offering a hand to her.

"You were in the process of it before he stumbled out of the shower. He's a demon in the sack isn't he?" She smiled, raising an eyebrow at me. "You're right, too soon. Call me when you get back from England. We'll talk." I chuckled "I never had a chance." I finally remembered how to press the button for the elevator. She stood with me until it came. I waved as the doors closed behind me.

I was cried out. I felt hallow, but strangely good.

I hadn't handled it quite as well as Temperance had, but I'd get there.

I went home, to bed. At two I woke up to my editor calling and yelling at me for missing my deadline.

I felt really good.


	6. Chapter 6

Spoilers for: Change in the Game

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><p>It took every inch of my self control not to slam the door. It's one thing to be told to go away on sight. That happens every day. It is another thing entirely when, after waking me up at six in the morning, on my day off, for an interview and then making me wait an hour in the foyer of an overly expensive townhouse, to say sorry other plans have been made. I requested the interview a week ago, and I was waiting patiently. I'd only followed up twice, damn it! I wasn't even being pushy.<p>

Seething, and muttering very unpleasant things about representatives from unimportant Midwestern states who think too much of themselves, I literally ran into her.

I hadn't noticed that I'd turned off of the long shady roads bordered by the winter homes of various over paid lobbyists and their takes and onto the long shady roads bordered by the offices of various lawyers, doctors, and people pretending to be the former. The only real difference on the streets were than this one had paid parking, and there were little black plaques at the end of each stairway. She had been standing at the foot of one of these plaque-ed staircases looking down at something. I, being otherwise occupied in finding a word that meant 'filthy rich, ego-maniacal and perverse' but sounded like it meant 'filthy rich, philanthropist and good with children', almost knocked her down.

Stumbling, and grabbing her arm to keep us both from ending up a smear on the sidewalk, I began to apologize.

"Oh. I'm so sorry, I di- Temperance?" That is one way to reconnect after weeping on her shoulder because she kinda sorta didn't steal your almost-not quite husband to be.

"Hannah. I- Hi." She quickly shoved whatever it was that was preventing her from seeing me coming into her pocket. I was tempted to bring it up, but after only a single phone call after she got back from England I hadn't spoken to her at all. Brining up something she obviously didn't want me to know about would not be a good way to reconnect.

I wasn't mad at her anymore. Not really. I just couldn't seem to find a way to be graceful about having slapped her...I honestly didn't know what to call him. Partner, I suppose still fit. "Wow, it's been awhile. What are you doing here? Bit far from home, aren't you?" Had I noticed what office we were standing in front of, the connections might have come together sooner, but we'd already started walking away from the building and I never thought to look. "You hungry?"

"I apologize for not calling more, things have been...hectic. And I suppose I should eat." The first was not what she really wanted to say, and the second was not an actual answer to any of my questions. Curiouser and curiouser.

"Ditto. How's Seeley?" It was amazing how little that hurt.

Her response, as we entered this little bagel shop on the corner, was not what I expected. It was merely a shrug. A shrug. For Seeley Booth! Had that shrug not thrown my mind for a spin, I might have noticed what she ordered. I didn't. I should have. Like the plaque it might have made things clearer later on.

"Things...I didn't mess things up for you did I? Oh, hell, Temperance, I'm sorry. Look, I'll go hunt him down and I'll smack him again. Put the sense back in his head." Hows that for grace?

She shook her head with a sigh, adding more milk to her coffee than I'd ever seen her do before. "No, you misunderstand. We're fine, mostly. I find that not knowing what he's thinking, and not being able to tell, it makes a bigger difference now. We'll work through it."

What the hell did that mean? "Temperance, are you sure everything's okay? I know I said I was mad, but if you need to talk, the least I can do is return the favor. Spill."

"I don't understand. Spill what?" She looked at the table, and picked up her coffee.

"What happened. What is it that you need to know his feelings about?" She picked at her bagel, tearing it into pieces, but not eating any of them. "Temperance, I do know Seeley, and I can be adept at reading people. Maybe I can work out what's going on in his mind, even without him here."

"I hate psychology." She muttered, which I took offense to. What I did was not any sort of psychological coercion. Or subversion. "I don't know where to being."

With anyone else, I'd have said to start at the beginning. "How did this start? Did he do something to upset you?" He better not have. He does not break my heart and then turn around and break hers without paying for it.

"No. I mentioned last week that we'd have to stop working together. That the rest of the team, and indeed my interns, could continue to help him on cases, however due to regulations I would have to excuse myself from them. We haven't talked much about it since, and I don't have enough evidence to determine how he feels about that. I think he may-" I cut her off.

"You think he's angry?" Had she been anyone else the look she gave me would have been described 'as if I had a third eye', if I actually had a third eye, however, that would not have been the look Temperance gave me. So, 'as if I were speaking gibberish' might be a better turn of phrase.

"No, not at all. Why would he be angry? It is simple truth that he and I cannot be together, sexually, and continue to work cases together. Officially, anyway. I think he may choose to go back to being partners, that he feels that the work we do is too important."

Oh, Temperance, hon, if you didn't hate psychology so much I'd say you were projecting. I nodded, trying hard not to laugh. That would not be a good reaction. "Temperance, I think it might be that he thinks that you only want to be partners. That you were trying to break it off with him. Rather rudely too, I might add."

"No. I love the work, but I went to Maluku specifically to get back into the anthropology side of my degrees. I'd miss being able to help people, but I had a very satisfying career prior to being partnered with Booth; I taught at American, I worked on a number of unidentified bodies from all different eras. I'd be content to return to it." She paused, then smiled, "The hours were also more flexible."

I shook my head. She didn't get it. How this woman could be so smart and not see what was staring her in the face surprised me. But then it took her seven years to get Seeley into bed, and it took me less than seven days, so I shouldn't have been caught too off guard.

"Temperance. Listen to me, for a second, okay? First, I would like to say that I'm glad you're happy with him. Secondly, I hope what I'm about to say doesn't make this first tentative step back to friendship stumble. And, finally, you are being a complete idiot." The look on her face was priceless. Not the horror you'd expect from most people, but almost pity.

"That is not an accurate statement. I am very intelligent. But I won't hold it against you. I believe you mean it differently?"

"Differently, yes." I chuckled. "He's pissed, Temperance. He doesn't want to choose, and I have a feeling he was planning on just ignoring those 'FBI regulations'" I air quoted for emphasis, she didn't look convinced. "Just...you should probably confront him on it."

She visibly paled. "That's...I don't think that's an option."

"Of course it is. You walk up to him and you say 'Seeley, baby, I love you. We can make this work.'" What was I saying? That hadn't worked with me. He'd kicked me out and hadn't spoken to me since. And telling me that Temperance needed to explain he was jumping her 'bones' didn't count. But, hey, maybe it would break them up and I'd get another shot. Although, I didn't really want another shot anymore.

She didn't respond, and at first I thought she was actually considering what I said. I smiled at her, wanting to be encouraging. Hoping I was being encouraging for the right reasons. Then a slip of paper was slid across the table. I gave her a questioning look, but she was staring at her pieces of bagel, that she still hadn't eaten. I picked the paper up and was presented with what looked like a bunch of gibberish. I went a little cross-eyed trying to decipher it, but near the bottom there was three little letters that a couple of close calls in college made me a little too familiar with.

"What's this mean?" I thought I knew what it meant. But it couldn't mean what I thought it meant. Biologically it might have been possible. But it just wasn't possible. It was Temperance. And Seeley. One of the other letter combinations on the paper were the important thing and I'd simply focused on the one I knew. That's all it was.

It simply could not mean what I thought it meant. It couldn't.

She looked up at me, and she looked like she was about to cry. "It means that I'm-"

"No. Don't say it. I don't want to hear it." Oh Lord, I felt like I dodged a bullet. Admittedly, there was no reason to believe that had we stayed together Seeley and I would be in the same position, but my brain was not thinking clearly. Between it and my heart, it was amazing that you couldn't see the bruises from the emotional beating I'd taken.

"I understand if this ends our friendship. I think it might just end mine with Booth as well."

My inner reporter caught that while the rest of me was doing its "I'm not having a baby" dance. "It's not his, then." It wasn't a question, because that is the only reason she'd say that. It's the only reason her relationship with Booth would end. I'd refrained from hitting her when I found them together last month. The only thing that kept me from doing it now was that the baby she carried was an innocent bystander. After all this time, making me think that she loved Seeley, that they had something he and I could never have, after making me feel good. GOOD! About them being together and she got herself knocked up by another man.

Maybe if I just hit her in the face.

She looked shocked, "Of course it is. I haven't had sex in-"

"Too much information. If it's Seeley's baby, why are you worried? He'll have you at the alter before you can get the word out." I felt a little guilty for my earlier thoughts, but I don't think any one could have really blamed me.

They were having a baby. Seeley Booth, who made me blush every time I passed a Fig Newton in the grocery store, was having a baby with Temperance. As the news truly settled on me, the shock came with it. I imagined his face, beaming at being a father. I imagined Parker, a big brother. Part of me suddenly wanted it to be me. I suddenly wished that his beaming face would be turned to me.

And then I imagined what I'd look like caring around a beach ball under my shirt, with swollen ankles and not being able to see my feet. No, better it be her than me.

"It is rather sudden." Was all she said. And that was true enough. It must have happened very soon after they got together, if she'd been telling the truth about when they got together. As much as I felt like she had at the time, I knew Temperance didn't lie. She didn't think there was any reason to. Her phone rang, and she stood, walking outside to take the call. She was back in a moment later, "I have to go. We have a case."

I wanted to say something reassuring, but she was leaving, uneaten bagel in the trash, before I could think of anything. "Ease him into it!" I called after her.

I sat at the table for I don't know how long.

Seeley and Temperance were going to have a baby. It would be one hell of a cute kid.

This hadn't gone like I expected my next meeting with Temperance would. I'd expected a lot of yelling. I'd expected us to be awkward and stumbling, a bit like when we'd first met and we'd spent time together only because we had Seeley in common. No. That was a lie. I'd never expected us to speak again.

And maybe we wouldn't. They were going to start a family, and I was simply a reminder of what had been wrong between them before.

I had expected to still hurt.

I didn't. I felt relieved.

I wondered if they'd invite me to the wedding.

As I left the bagel shop I remembered the interview with the congressman. Smiling, I went to go sit in his foyer until he finally spoke to me.

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><p>Authors note: And that's it. The End. It wasn't what I planned when I started it, but I think it turned out better. *bows* c<p> 


End file.
